European Scrutiny Committee House of Commons, , SW1A 0AA Tel (020) 7219 3292 Email [email protected] Website www.parliament.uk/escom

From: Sir William Cash MP

21 October 2020

Ranil Jayawardena MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Department for International Trade King Charles Street London SW1A 2AH

Proposal for a Regulation on the application of EU tariff rate quotas and other import quotas (COM(20) 375) (ESC number 41467)

Thank you for your letter of 8 October 2020 responding to the questions raised in our Twenty-second Report1 and our letter of 24 September 2020 concerning a proposed Regulation on the application of EU tariff rate quotas and other import quotas under the Withdrawal Agreement Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. It is disappointing that you are unwilling to form a view on some of the questions we have raised with you until “wider negotiations with the EU have concluded”. Does this mean that you expect the proposed Regulation will only be adopted after these wider discussions have concluded, or might it be agreed sooner? If the latter, it is important for us to understand the Government’s position on the proposed Regulation and, in particular, whether you consider it to be consistent with the approach set out in the Government’s Command Paper on The UK’s Approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol 2 which makes clear that Northern Ireland will remain an integral part of the UK’s customs territory after transition and benefit from any preferential tariffs and quotas negotiated by the UK with third countries. You indicate that you cannot form a view on the correct mechanism for the Regulation (once adopted) to apply “to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland” until “wider negotiations with the EU have concluded”. We ask you to explain why. The provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol cited in the

1 Twenty-second Report HC 229-xviii (2019-21), chapter 3 (24 September 2020). 2 Command Paper 226, The UK’s Approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol. proposed Regulation—Article 5(3) and (4) and Article 13(3)—are not, as far as we are aware, a matter for negotiation within the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee or part of the wider future relationship negotiations. We can therefore see no reason why you cannot express a view on their application in this case, given that you recognise in your Explanatory Memorandum on the proposed Regulation that it will affect the way in which the EU Customs Code is implemented and that the Code will continue to apply in Northern Ireland after transition. We look forward to receiving the further details we have requested on the Government’s position within 10 working days. We are copying this letter to the Chair ( MP) and Clerk (Nick Beech) of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee; the Chair (Angus MacNeil MP) and Clerk (Joanna Welham) of the International Trade Committee; the Chair (Rt Hon MP) and Clerk (Gordon Clarke) of the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union; the Chair (the Earl of Kinnoull) and Clerk (Stuart Stoner) of the EU Select Committee in the ; Edwina Osborne and Stephen Booth, your Departmental Scrutiny Coordinators; and Les Saunders and Donald Harris in the Cabinet Office.

CHAIR